Under the clear sky, with fluffy white clouds floating about, beams of sunlight as dazzling as golden threads fell on people, making them feel comfortable all over and significantly brightening their moods.
After the magical disaster, the survivors, carrying the memories of their lost loved ones, worked hard to live on. From high above, one could see that on the plains below, diligent farmers had already begun their daily high-intensity labor.
"What is that?" A farmer, who was busy hoeing the field and catching insects, leaned on his tool and wiped the sweat from his labor with a piece of foul-smelling rag. Just as he picked up his water bottle and was about to take a sip, he was stunned by an extraordinary sight in the sky. His body stiffened in shock, causing the water bottle to fall to the ground.
In the distant sky, an incredible scene unfolded—a multitude of majestic islands floated in the air, slowly moving towards his direction, blotting out the sun and casting large shadows on the ground, making the land below seem as if it were plunged into dusk.
"God of Dawn, is this a miracle you've shown us?" Because of the farmer's exclamation, his fellow laborers in the vast wheat field also looked up, seeing the cloud islands breaking through the white clouds and flying towards them.
Such a stunning, grand scene seemed to belong only in the tales told by bards, filling these farmers, who had survived the demonic invasion, with awe and fear.
"Thud!" Some farmers, overwhelmed by the sight of hundreds of cloud islands moving simultaneously, felt their legs weaken and either knelt or collapsed to the ground, hardly anyone could maintain their composure.
"Pathetic humans, can't even stand straight," Fiona, the ancient green dragon released by Muria from the demiplane, showed a proud and haughty expression as she observed the reaction of the mortals below.
"You have no right to mock them. You weren't much better when you first saw the cloud islands!" Mia seized the opportunity to strike back at this green dragon who posed a significant threat to her.
At first sight of Fiona, Mia knew she was a formidable rival. Fiona's beauty and figure matched hers, and she was also highly capable.
It was said that Fiona had once led a group of young dragons to subdue sixty thousand drow elves without Muria's assistance, quelling thirteen uprisings with ruthless methods.
"It's only natural to be astonished by such a world wonder," Fiona responded to the hostile dragon maid with a friendly smile.
She was clear about her position—just an old dragon who had allied with Muria halfway through her life. Besides her strength and centuries of experience, she had nothing else that would particularly interest the Dragon King's descendant.
Mia, on the other hand, had grown up with Muria and frequently served as his personal maid. In Muria's eyes, Fiona's status could never compare to hers.
"Hmph!" Mia's expression softened slightly upon hearing Fiona's conciliatory words. She realized her hostile behavior towards the green dragon might have been excessive, but she couldn't help feeling anxious as Fiona indeed had the potential to replace her.
"Ah, Miss Mia, the next city's people will soon see us. I should arrange for the dragons to patrol." Fiona, smiling, reverted to her dragon form and flew towards another cloud island, the one Muria had allocated for the chromatic dragons to inhabit.
"This is slower than I expected!" On the island of the Wind King Eagle, Muria looked at the projections from the arrays before him, showing images from the 132 cloud islands and their surrounding regions, along with operational data, including their movement speed. He sighed softly.
The speed was frustratingly slow compared to a properly configured floating city, like a turtle crawl, only a fifth of what it should be. His requirement was met—the islands could move. The slow speed was due to the lack of defensive arrays that could keep the islands intact during high-speed travel.
Besides the movement arrays, the floating islands had almost nothing else. Muria could only boast about their number and size.
"It will take two more months to leave the Lockman Kingdom," Muria sighed. "When the Wind King Eagle moved the islands from the sea to Scarlett, it only took seven days."
"That's because you're making an unnecessary detour around the entire kingdom before leaving. If you went straight from the capital to the sea, it wouldn't take nearly as long," the white cat, Troy, scoffed.
"I can't just leave directly," Muria leaned against Troy, stroking its smooth, soft fur. "I want the treacherous nobles to see the islands and show expressions of shock and awe. Otherwise, it wouldn't be as satisfying."
"You just want to show off!" Troy, usually asleep in the demiplane, saw through Muria's true motive. "And according to you, these islands belong to the Wind King Eagle, not you. You only have the right to live on them."
"Cough, not much of a difference," Muria coughed lightly, his face flushing but quickly returning to normal. "And showing off is a secondary goal. The main goal is to intimidate them and convey a false impression that I'm really leaving, prompting them to reveal their true selves after being suppressed for twelve years. Don't forget, the former king, Beladian, didn't die a natural death."
"So you do have a motive to show off, how shallow." The big cat, pleased by Muria's stroking, snorted a few times.
"Showing off is a normal behavior for an intelligent being," Muria dismissed it. The famous Chu Bawang from his previous life once said, "Returning home in glory without showing off is like wearing fine clothes at night."
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